Legendary Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has for the first time in a long while spoken in detail about the company's strategy regarding remakes of classic games. In an interview with the Japanese magazine Famitsu, the translation of which was published by Nintendo Everything, he admitted that Nintendo indeed releases many updated versions of old projects, but considers this approach fully justified.
According to Miyamoto, the main reason lies in the changing generations of players. He noted that just five years after a release, many users stop returning to a game, and a new generation of gamers often doesn't even have the opportunity to get acquainted with projects from ten years ago.
Some might say there are too many remakes. But after five years, many people outgrow games and stop playing them. Modern youth don't have the opportunity to experience games from ten years ago, so releasing remakes with modern improvements is a good way to meet that demand. Additionally, introducing players to original works paves the way for further development of these series, which is why we've been actively doing this lately.
Over the past decade, Nintendo has indeed significantly expanded its catalog of remakes. The company has released updated versions of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Live A Live, Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl, and many other classic projects.
In 2026, the list will be supplemented by a remake of Star Fox, and later this year, the release of one of Nintendo's most anticipated projects, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake, is expected.